If any policy maker watches Michael Moore's new movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story" and is influenced by it - be afraid, be very afraid.
Moore appeared on CNN's Sept. 23 "Larry King Live" to promote his movie, but he shared with host Larry King his thoughts on why the stock market has rallied off its lows, despite a rising unemployment. His reasoning - Wall Street likes joblessness, because it's more for them. Moore outright told King Wall Street wants people unemployed.
"It's crazy, isn't it?" Moore said. "I'll tell you why: Because your employees are your biggest expense. And, as you've noticed in the last few months, as the unemployment rate has gone up, so has the Dow Jones. Now, you'd think, you know - that Wall Street would respond with, ‘Oh my God, unemployment is going up, you know, this is bad for business.' But the reality is, is that Wall Street likes that. They like it when companies fire people because immediately the bottom line is going to show a larger profit."
Not only is Moore's idea of the American economy cynical - it's simplistic and just not rooted in basic economic theory. What's frightening is it is coming from a man getting a lot of free publicity to espouse these views and wants to replace the American economic model with something different, despite showing a true ignorance of the economy and how it applies to the workforce.
As Business & Media Institute adviser and George Mason University economics professor Walter Williams explained, filling in as the guest host on Rush Limbaugh's Sept. 4 program, it's not done for purely short-term shareholder profit as Moore contended. Williams explained drops in employment in these circumstances could show the economy is shedding inefficiency and will eventually replace those lost jobs with better jobs.
"It might be very good news," Williams explained. "Let me just kind of go back to start off with a really simple case you can really see easily. That is, when we started out in 1787, 93 percent of our nation was involved in agriculture, now only 3 percent. A huge number of jobs were destroyed - by what? By productivity. And so, what firms are looking for now - they're looking for ways to replace labor because if you can get a machine or a program to replace labor, well the machines not going to be in a union, it's not going to get sick, it's not going to take time off."
Moore's view is simplistic because he assumes there is only a finite amount of wealth, which he analogizes to a pie and contends it should be allocated more equally. But Williams explains that isn't how economies have operated throughout history and he backs it up by explaining it's as simple as identifying a human behavior trait - infinite wants that can create an infinite amount of jobs.
"So, some of the unemployment we might be seeing is maybe a relocation process whereby people are looking -- are going to get other jobs," Williams continued. "They're not going to get their original job, but they're going to get other jobs. And keep in mind, there's an infinite number of jobs in any society. Why I say infinite number of jobs is because human wants are infinite."
But Moore wants a new system beyond capitalism. The documentary maker, who has made it a habit of interchanging political systems and economic systems when he makes his pitch, says our economy need to be more "democratic."
"Yes, that's correct," Moore said. "We need to have control of our economy. I don't understand how we can call this a democracy, just because we get to vote every two to four years. Somehow I guess that's the democracy. But yet in our economy, there's no real democracy in the workplace. There's no democracy. I mean, I want to live in a real democracy, where I don't lose my democratic rights when I go to work every morning, or when I go to the bank to cash my check."
The ever-so compassionate Moore proposed there's not either capitalism or socialism to chose from, but a third way that is "fair," but hasn't quite figured that part out yet.
"Let's quit having this debate of capitalism versus socialism," Moore said. "It's the 21st Century. We're smart enough to come up with a new economic order that is fair, fair to all people, where we don't have so many people hurting. Right now, there's a foreclosure filing in America once every seven and a half seconds. That is absolutely outrageous. And it's time to start sticking up for the little guy in this country."





















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From the ground up
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 08:44 ET by KC MulvilleThe whole economy begins with motivation - why would anyone do anything? Why bother? Why work? And then, once a person decides to work, the question is how he can contribute something that somebody else wants to pay for. What are his talents, ideas, craftsmanship, etc., that are of value to someone else?
Those equations are as varied as human imagination. It's chaos theory, maginified by the 180+ million people working at any given time. It's hubris to think you can "control" all those interactions. Sorry to break this to Moore, but the only way to control an economy is to kill it.
And when the Michael Moores of the world complain that sometimes the world is dangerous and unfair ... the only answer is, "yes, we know." You can't change that. You can't stand in front of a tiger and complain that the tiger isn't looking out for your needs. You're going to get eaten that way.
Life is dangerous. Grow up, and quit complaining about it.
Un-freakin'-believable...
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 09:02 ET by WhoIsJohnGaltIf this ninny thinks that companies (the ubiquitous entity that is not populated by people with families, but a sub-species of humans that light their cigars with hundred-dollar bills) like to fire workers, what prevents them from firing ALL workers? Oh, that's right, they were hired to do a job that furthersthe interest of the company. In other words, they serve a purpose. If not, they should be fired.
An absolute nin-com-poop who truly undertsands nothing about an economy and human action. But he gets attention by decrying the imperfection of the world as it is...the world that allows him to overeat to the point that he would be unrecognizable as a human if he were to go back in time to the middle ages.
Worse than him are the uncritical media that give him a pass. Ask the idiot how he defines socialism, or ask the idiot why he doesn't give away his fortune if he believes that wealth is evil.
Line of the day
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 09:05 ET by KC Mulville"the world that allows him to overeat ... " Now that's funny! Great line, I'm stealing it.
So michael....why don't
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 08:45 ET by red_dragon311So michael....why don't you show us how, we who are too dumb and stupid to know.
tWhy don't ake your millions and spread THAT pie around? when will an interviewer ask that
lib-think:
Male/female gender roles, especially the desire of women to be mothers, are purely social constructs. But homosexuality - and every other sexual proclivity - are immutable, ingraned biological desires that cannot be questioned
He is so wrong it makes my
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 08:55 ET by EdhenryHe is so wrong it makes my head hurt.
Wall Street always wants a healthy economy. This includes full employment, to create economic growth, earnings growth, investment by workers who have a paycheck, less burden on govt support and on and on. Wall St has rebounded tepidly and incompletely from a deep finaincial shock, fostered and encouraged by Govt policies. It would be much more robust if the recovery poilicies actually helped employment.
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son. Dean Wormer
Yeah, let's all take
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 08:58 ET by FirmwormYeah, let's all take financial advice from a 54 year old 'man' who wears a ballcap everywhere he goes. What an idiot!
My guess is that it's a subconcious attempt to either
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 11:36 ET by WhoIsJohnGalt"cover" something up (if you're a Freudian), or he's very insecure.
The cap is only there to
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 15:23 ET by FlashmanThe cap is only there to establish his bona fides as a man of the people.
Pure idiocy
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 09:23 ET by mac_691I have a really good idea as to how we should implement our new "fair" economy. All those who don't work and don't contribute to the economy, get paid nothing. Those who don't get up from the couch, stop watching Oprah and Larry King, get nothing from the govt. If you don't contribute, no one owes you anything. And how about fairness for the productive workers? People who work, get to keep the money they earn, rather than have it forcibly stolen by a greedy govt. If we want "fairness" let's have true fairness.
TANSTAAFL!
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 09:59 ET by jmtThe most democratic and fair system is a free market - everyone buys what he wants and anyone can sell it to him. However those like Mr Ball-Cap don't want a fair system. They want a "managed system":
-- R. H. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
jmt
http://www.jmichaelt.org
Great quote JMT! Love
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 15:24 ET by Free StinkerGreat quote JMT!
Love that book!
"President Obama is learning on the job and it shows." --Boris Epshteyn
He's only half right
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 09:29 ET by sic721"Intentionally high unemployment" is definitely a goal, not of Wall Street, but for Obama and the progressives to make people more amenable to Big Government 'help'.
Attention Jeff Poor: Make it "his thoughts" instead of...
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 09:40 ET by jawebster1"he thoughts". It should be "Wall Street likes" not "Wall Street like" and "it needs" instead of "it need". Jim Webster
Oops
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 09:42 ET by Jeff PoorThanks. I think I posted the wrong version.
Corrections noted except for the last (needs to more...
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 10:20 ET by jawebster1"democratic") or add (sic) since the words were attributed to the "slob". Jim Webster
Our economic system is far from perfect, but it is...
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 09:51 ET by jawebster1by far the best economic system ever devised by man. For proof, in our system (which Michael Moore obviously hates), a fat slob like him can become prosperous. Jim Webster
What a Fool
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 09:55 ET by slickwillie2001What a fool. On the other hand, some of us think that the Bamster is in not too much of a hurry for the economy to recover. If the Bamster believes that "you never want a serious crisis to go to waste," as his right hand man does, then it's not hard to believe they might extend the crisis (or not take actions to end it) until they get their 'work' done.
Re Moore, he does not have long to live. He is a walking heart attack, and when he goes he will be one of those cases you see in the news where a forklift and a flatbed truck had to be called to deliver him to the hospital.
propagandist
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 10:04 ET by In ExcessHe must have been out of the country when the dow was over 14,000 and unemployment was 4.5%.
Mikey is obviously
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 10:10 ET by HockeyKidMikey is obviously suffering brain damage due to oxygen deprivation. Must be from having to breathe constantly within the malodorous miasma of his own corpulence.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
has Moore taken a a vow of poverty yet?
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 11:57 ET by katainkenthis fellow citizen workers are waiting for their due.
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The Emperor, he has no clothes
→ kata
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 12:02 ET by Cool ArrowI don't think so, But Barry Bonds has asked him to do a spread for Playboy.
Barry's gone crazy demanding Affirmative Action for everybody.
blearg
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 12:05 ET by katainkentgood thing I've had breakfast.
katainkent
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 12:05 ET by Airforce_5_OHe would have to swear off cheeseburgers first so he didn't spend so much money. Ironic isn't it?
Liberalism: The haunting feeling that someone, somewhere, can help themselves.
makes sense to me!
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 13:19 ET by jon_torlinOk, so when people are working, they have money to spend on goods, products, services, whatever.
To do that, you go to businesses and stores that sell these goods, products, services, whatever with the money you made from working. (not counting cost of living stuff like food and gas and bills of various kinds)
Businesses make money from consumers/customers who come in to purchase their goods, products, services, whatever. Business is good. Stock Market reacts to sales, value goes up of stock and business where goods, products, services, whatever goes up. Investors are happy.
So here's the opposite:
People not working won't spend money they don't have (unlike government). This doesn't include money in form of loans or bad checks.
Businesses that offer good, products, services, whatever do not gain consumers/customers and therefore do not make any sales and profits.
Lack of sales affect value of stock and business and value begins to drop, thus investors are not happy. and they lose money. Businesses that do not make a profit are forced to close and workers are out of jobs. More people unemployed. Wall Street does NOT benefit from lost revenue.
Sorry Fat Boy, your argument doesn't swim, it sinks. Go back to Canada where what you want exists. Or better yet, move to Cuba.
-Jon
...
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 13:45 ET by Ghostbuster"Yes, that's correct," Moore said. "We need to have control of our
economy. I don't understand how we can call this a democracy, just
because we get to vote every two to four years. Somehow I guess that's
the democracy. But yet in our economy, there's no real democracy in the
workplace. There's no democracy. I mean, I want to live in a real
democracy, where I don't lose my democratic rights when I go to work
every morning, or when I go to the bank to cash my check."
Ignoring that we live in a republic, let me point out what should be obvious:
Capitalism IS the democracy of the economy, you dolt. You make as much money as you care to work for, you can spend it where you like, invest it where you like, save as much as you choose.
When the government starts to intervene, your choices start to go out the window and so does capitalism. Thank you, Mr. Moore, for pointing out why capitalism is the strongest, most just system. You just have your terminology backwards.
-Ghostbuster